diff --git a/backend/Cargo.lock b/backend/Cargo.lock
index 925e076..3fcce1d 100644
--- a/backend/Cargo.lock
+++ b/backend/Cargo.lock
@@ -1558,7 +1558,7 @@ checksum = "c41e0c4fef86961ac6d6f8a82609f55f31b05e4fce149ac5710e439df7619ba4"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "mangalord"
-version = "0.124.0"
+version = "0.124.1"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "argon2",
diff --git a/backend/Cargo.toml b/backend/Cargo.toml
index 50aea91..3c7f1d8 100644
--- a/backend/Cargo.toml
+++ b/backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "mangalord"
-version = "0.124.0"
+version = "0.124.1"
 edition = "2021"
 default-run = "mangalord"
 
diff --git a/backend/src/api/admin/users.rs b/backend/src/api/admin/users.rs
index 171cf07..3094e1f 100644
--- a/backend/src/api/admin/users.rs
+++ b/backend/src/api/admin/users.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ use crate::api::auth::{validate_password, validate_username};
 use crate::api::pagination::PagedResponse;
 use crate::app::AppState;
 use crate::auth::extractor::RequireAdmin;
-use crate::auth::password::hash_password;
+use crate::auth::password::hash_password_async;
 use crate::domain::User;
 use crate::error::{AppError, AppResult};
 use crate::repo;
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ async fn create_user(
     // reject (and vice versa).
     validate_username(username)?;
     validate_password(&input.password)?;
-    let pwhash = hash_password(&input.password)?;
+    let pwhash = hash_password_async(input.password.clone()).await?;
     let user = repo::user::admin_create_user(
         &state.db,
         actor.id,
diff --git a/backend/src/api/auth.rs b/backend/src/api/auth.rs
index e4cf745..4f5d615 100644
--- a/backend/src/api/auth.rs
+++ b/backend/src/api/auth.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ use uuid::Uuid;
 
 use crate::app::AppState;
 use crate::auth::extractor::{CurrentUser, SESSION_COOKIE_NAME};
-use crate::auth::password::{hash_password, verify_password};
+use crate::auth::password::{hash_password_async, verify_password_async};
 use crate::auth::token::{generate_token, hash_token};
 use crate::config::AuthConfig;
 use crate::domain::user_preferences::{READER_GAPS, READER_MODES};
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ async fn register(
     validate_username(username)?;
     validate_password(&input.password)?;
 
-    let pwhash = hash_password(&input.password)?;
+    let pwhash = hash_password_async(input.password.clone()).await?;
     let user = repo::user::create(&state.db, username, &pwhash).await?;
     let jar = start_session(&state, &user, jar).await?;
     Ok((StatusCode::CREATED, jar, Json(AuthResponse { user })))
@@ -154,10 +154,11 @@ async fn login(
         // response time matches the wrong-password branch — otherwise
         // an attacker can enumerate usernames by timing the no-user
         // 401 against the wrong-password 401.
-        let _ = verify_password(&input.password, dummy_password_hash());
+        let _ = verify_password_async(input.password.clone(), dummy_password_hash().to_string())
+            .await;
         return Err(AppError::Unauthenticated);
     };
-    if !verify_password(&input.password, &user.password_hash) {
+    if !verify_password_async(input.password.clone(), user.password_hash.clone()).await {
         return Err(AppError::Unauthenticated);
     }
 
@@ -220,12 +221,12 @@ async fn change_password(
     // Cap current_password before verify_password runs argon2 (same DoS
     // vector as login). new_password is bounded by validate_password below.
     reject_oversized_password(&input.current_password)?;
-    if !verify_password(&input.current_password, &user.password_hash) {
+    if !verify_password_async(input.current_password.clone(), user.password_hash.clone()).await {
         return Err(AppError::Unauthenticated);
     }
     validate_password(&input.new_password)?;
 
-    let new_hash = hash_password(&input.new_password)?;
+    let new_hash = hash_password_async(input.new_password.clone()).await?;
 
     let mut tx = state.db.begin().await?;
     sqlx::query("UPDATE users SET password_hash = $1 WHERE id = $2")
diff --git a/backend/src/auth/password.rs b/backend/src/auth/password.rs
index 7afd308..139c140 100644
--- a/backend/src/auth/password.rs
+++ b/backend/src/auth/password.rs
@@ -28,6 +28,25 @@ pub fn verify_password(plain: &str, phc: &str) -> bool {
         .is_ok()
 }
 
+/// Async wrapper around [`hash_password`] that offloads the CPU- and
+/// memory-heavy Argon2 work to the blocking pool. Async handlers must call
+/// this rather than the sync primitive: at ~15-50 ms per hash, running it
+/// inline stalls every other task sharing the runtime worker thread.
+pub async fn hash_password_async(plain: String) -> AppResult<String> {
+    tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || hash_password(&plain))
+        .await
+        .map_err(|e| AppError::Other(anyhow::anyhow!("password hash task join: {e}")))?
+}
+
+/// Async wrapper around [`verify_password`]. A join failure (blocking pool
+/// gone at shutdown, panic) resolves to `false` — the caller only ever uses
+/// the result as a boolean gate, and denying auth is the safe default.
+pub async fn verify_password_async(plain: String, phc: String) -> bool {
+    tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || verify_password(&plain, &phc))
+        .await
+        .unwrap_or(false)
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
@@ -56,4 +75,24 @@ mod tests {
         let b = hash_password("same").unwrap();
         assert_ne!(a, b, "two hashes of the same password must differ (salt)");
     }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn async_hash_then_verify_roundtrip() {
+        let phc = hash_password_async("correct horse battery staple".to_string())
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+        assert!(phc.starts_with("$argon2id$"));
+        assert!(verify_password_async("correct horse battery staple".to_string(), phc).await);
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn async_verify_rejects_wrong_password() {
+        let phc = hash_password_async("hunter2".to_string()).await.unwrap();
+        assert!(!verify_password_async("hunter3".to_string(), phc).await);
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn async_verify_rejects_malformed_hash() {
+        assert!(!verify_password_async("anything".to_string(), "not a real phc".to_string()).await);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/backend/src/repo/user.rs b/backend/src/repo/user.rs
index d4acd25..caa7be8 100644
--- a/backend/src/repo/user.rs
+++ b/backend/src/repo/user.rs
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ pub async fn bootstrap_admin(
                 .await?;
         }
         None => {
-            let hash = crate::auth::password::hash_password(password)?;
+            let hash = crate::auth::password::hash_password_async(password.to_string()).await?;
             sqlx::query("INSERT INTO users (username, password_hash, is_admin) VALUES ($1, $2, true)")
                 .bind(username)
                 .bind(&hash)
diff --git a/frontend/package.json b/frontend/package.json
index 48e3967..a47750d 100644
--- a/frontend/package.json
+++ b/frontend/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "mangalord-frontend",
-  "version": "0.124.0",
+  "version": "0.124.1",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {